


Improbable Meetings of the Wibbly Wobbly Kind

by Wednesday990



Category: Amazing Spider-Man (2012), Doctor Who (2005), The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Gen, I've no idea what the fuck I'm doing, It kind of works into my other TASM/Avengers crossover, Surprise TASM Crossover in the seventh chapter and beyond!, Timey Wimey, WIP, honestly, wibbly wobbly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-06-14
Updated: 2013-01-10
Packaged: 2017-11-07 17:10:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 20,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/433477
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wednesday990/pseuds/Wednesday990
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor finds himself landing back on Earth, much to his confusion. Unfortunately for him, SHIELD is waiting for his arrival.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. In Which the Doctor Has an Odd Day and Coulson Just Hopes He Doesn't Get Stabbed... Again

Phil Coulson looked blankly at the screen in front of him. Part of SHEILD's responsibility was to detect and prevent threats from other worlds, and the department had certainly had its work cut out for it with the sudden appearance of the Asgardians and the Chitauri.

This, however, was something else entirely. SHIELD had been aware of the numerous extraterrestrial activities that had occurred frequently in the past few decades or so, but since the majority of them had occurred in the United Kingdom, SHIELD and it's predecessors had only paid a minimum amount of attention to the foreign affairs.  
However, it seemed that the frequency and urgency of these incidents were increasing by the day, and were growing large enough to concern the United States. After all, the Sycorac and the assassination of the President via the Prime Minister had been very alarming incidents.

As a consequence, SHIELD had focused its attention on the strange happenings that always seemed to center themselves around a gloomy little island positioned between Ireland and the European continent. They'd been alarmed at how much they were able to discover when they paid even the slightest bit of attention. Suddenly, extraterrestrial contact and incidents were popping up everywhere they looked, and once they looked long and hard enough, it was easy enough to see a pattern. These events were all centered around one thing, one person.

Curiously enough, it was a man with a blue, wooden box.

Whenever there was an incident of the alien kind, there was always a man with a blue, wooden box on the scene soon after. Unfortunately, SHIELD was having a difficult time figuring out the exact nature of his involvement. The agencies in the United Kingdom who specialized in these affairs were being unusually tight-lipped about everything, and all the visual records they had managed to find were unreliable. There were no clear pictures of the man in question, and all they could discern from the evidence they had amassed was that of a masculine figure sometimes positioned by the small, wooden box.

According to the rare written testimonies they had been able to get their hands on, a loud wheezing and banging noise could be heard before and after the box and the man appeared. Conflict would happen soon after he ran off, or would continue, but in the end, there was always the man and his box in the surrounding area. SHIELD had managed, after some skillful infiltration, to collect readings of the energy the box produced when it appeared and reappeared. Even though other countries were out of their official jurisdiction, they would be able to detect if the strange man appeared on US soil.

And SHIELD would be waiting for him when he did.

 

"No, no, no!"

A tall, skinny man yelled wildly as he zipped around the console to his TARDIS. The console in question looked like it had been ductaped together, but the man was treating it like it just needed one good kick before he could convince the machine to obey him.

He grabbed the mallet that was hanging under the console and began smashing one of the buttons, almost as if he was punishing it for misbehaving.

"This is all wrong! I'm supposed to be halfway to the coronation of the fourth king of Bhafigljomas! In the fourth upper left quadrant of the Omicronico Galaxy! What am I doing back on Earth!"

The man stopped banging on the console in favor of sprinting around to study the monitor which seemed to be loosely attached to the rest of the machine.

"Let's take a look at these readings," he mumbled to himself. "Why am I being pulled back here?"

He calmed down enough to raise his head and lift an eyebrow at his beloved TARDIS. Although they couldn't talk directly, the TARDIS was a telepathic, eleven-dimensional being who had been his constant companion for the last seven hundred years. If they were going to land somewhere he hadn't intended, then it was either because the TARDIS thought he should involve himself, or it was beyond the TARDIS's control which meant that it was already something that needed his attention. The trick was figuring out which one it was.

He turned his head toward the front doors when he realized the tell-tale wheezing and gonging had sounded, which meant that the TARDIS had landed. The question was, where? Or maybe even when.

Well, there was only one way to find out what was out there. Open the front door.

 

After a few months of waiting for the any signs from this new threat, the new division that had been created to deal with this phenomenon had finally reported that they were getting a reading on the strange energy the man with the blue box seemed to emit. Thanks to SHIELD's new alliance with Asgard and also thanks to the work of the astrophysicist, Dr. Jane Foster, they were able to get enough information about wormholes and sudden shifts in the space-time continuum in order to predict where this rogue agent would next appear on Earth.

Of course, Asgard had only been minimally helpful, and any information they had received had been due to Thor's assistance. Unfortunately, Thor's knowledge on the subject was limited at best, and the only reason they were able use any of the information was because of the work Dr. Foster had already devoted her entire life to. On the brighter side, Thor and the astrophysicist had seemed to enjoy their time together before Thor was forced to return to Asgard once more.

And now they were seeing the fruit of that information hunt, and soon enough they would possibly be confronting a new alien life form. When they had brought up the topic with Thor and the possible extraterrestrial involvement, he had said that he knew of no other realm that could manipulate space and time except for Asgard. Even then, the Asgardians were mostly limited to creating portals in space. The conversation after that had worried Coulson a little.

"Know this, Son of Coul," Thor had said, somehow making his ridiculous phrasing sound completely normal. "There are few in this universe that have the knowledge or power to do what you are suggesting."

"But you know of some?" Coulson had replied, trying to read between the lines of the thunder god's warning.

"Aye," Thor said gravely. "But they are the oldest civilization in the universe. And though they have this power, their policies are that of strict non-interference. If this renegade is indeed connected to them, he operates outside of their laws."

"Right."

Apparently, there were whole other worlds out there that not even the Asgradians knew much about or had control over. SHIELD, especially Nick Fury, hadn't been pleased to know that there were possibly bigger and badder things out there than Norse gods from outer space or the Chitauri. However, Coulson only thought that it was common sense. After all, it was a big universe. It was only logical to believe that there were people out there with abilities they couldn't even begin to comprehend.

Unfortunately, this one being had been interfering in Earth affairs longer than humanity had knowledge of the worlds outside of their own, and they couldn't possibly let an unstable element like this run loose. So, SHIELD had assembled an extraction team under Coulson's supervision. The Avengers Initiative weren't directly involved, but Agent Barton and Agent Romanov had volunteered themselves to help with the extraction and the interrogation, respectively.

Coulson was thankful that they had agree to involve themselves since he definitely felt more at ease confronting a more advanced alien life form with the world's greatest marksman, their best spy, and a troop of ex-Marine SHIELD operatives that managed to grow to a size that surpassed even the God of Thunder's (despite the fact that they could never hope to take on Thor in a fair fight as seen from the encounter with him in Puente Antiguo). The last time Coulson had decided to directly confront a hostile alien life form by himself, he'd gotten himself stabbed and put into a coma for his troubles. An incident he'd like to avoid the repetition of if he could help it.

The team had just finished surrounding the area their calculations had led them to believe would be the site of arrival. They were sure from their previous surveillance that the vessel was small, but they set up a perimeter of about 50 feet just to leave room for a margin of error.

Coulson checked his watch and when it reached the desired hour he signaled his team to get into position and stay at attention. Soon enough the banging and wheezing noise started up, but to the credit of the SHIELD operatives, none of them moved a muscle as a blue box slowly faded into existence right in the middle of their perimeter.

 

The Doctor cracked the door open a hair and pressed his face up against the door just enough so that he could see the outside world. His eye looked this way and that, but everything seemed to be normal... at least from his limited point of view. So, he opened the door and stepped outside. That was his first mistake because as soon as he did, he was surrounded by a large group of very large soldiers pointing very, very dangerous weapons at his person. The Doctor immediately froze and threw his hand up into the air. His large, dark eyes opened even wider than they would be normally, and his eyebrows flying upward toward his spiky hair.

"Um," he began, hoping to break the standstill as peacefully as possible. "I come in peace?"

 

Coulson raised a brow as he looked at the spiky-haired man in the brown, pin-striped suit and light brown duster. Of all the things he'd been expecting, it hadn't been an obviously British man dressed in a sharp suit and all-star sneakers. Also, now that he was close enough to the box to get a closer look, he saw that the wooden box was actually one of those old British Police Boxes that they used to use in the 1960s. Coulson almost felt like someone was playing a joke on him.

"I come in peace?" he heard the man say, the question mark nearly palpable as the man looked at them with his arms up in the air and his eyes wide with confusion. Coulson felt like this was his cue to step in.

"I would hope so, sir," Coulson said, stepping forward to address the man.

The strange man turned and focused on him, his hands still in the air, and his brow slightly furrowed as he stared at Coulson.

"We've been tracking your movements for some time," Coulson explained. "We'd appreciate it if you'd come with us. Quietly."

"Whose we?" the man asked immediately, finally putting his arms down.

Coulson raised his own eyebrows a fraction as if to say 'didn't I just say quietly?' and nodded at two of the agents that were standing to his right.  
The two men walked over to the stranger, very obviously towering over him in height, and pulled him toward a nondescript black van.

"Pack up the shed," Coulson ordered another group of agents.

The newcomer looked around wildly as he was being forcefully manhandled away from his Police Box.

"I-what?"

Coulson noted that the man had enough sense not to struggle, and he stumbled along obediently as the two burly agents kept a firm hold on this possible alien life form.  
Coulson was just glad that the man hadn't started waxing poetic about world domination. There were only so many evil plots he could handle within a year's time.


	2. Interrogation

The Doctor was relieved to have finally reached his intended destination. Despite the fact that he wasn't pleased about being captured in the first place, he felt better having somewhere to sit down before they interrogated him. Unfortunately, the room was a little less than hospitable. It was cold and covered in metal, a one-way mirror covered the wall opposite the door, and it was furnished with a metal table and two metal chairs.

"This looks…comfy," the Doctor said as he was being handcuffed to the chair facing the large, wall-long mirror.

The grunt that had been one of his main man-handlers since he'd arrived said nothing, and instead turned to leave. The Doctor flinched a little when the door slammed behind him, and he turned to glance at the ominous door that had no doorknob. Although he was curious to note that there was a closed partition on the door at what would be eye level for the average human.

'Must be someone standing guard on the other side,' the Doctor thought to himself.

It was actually rather clever. Anyone who came in would have to knock if they wanted to get out, and the guard would open the partition to make sure the person on the other side was allowed to leave. Of course, it wasn't the cleverest solution he had ever seen, but all the same. It was rather refreshing in its simplicity. Perhaps he wasn't seen as much of a threat? But that only brought him back to that lingering question. Why did they want him?

They had apparently gone through great lengths to track him down. In fact, they had even managed to predict where he was going to be. Even the Doctor hadn't known he was going to show up in that clearing! It spoke of some kind of alien interference.

'Humans shouldn't have the technology to track down multi-dimensional vessels in the early 21st century. Who's been interfering this time?'

His first guess would be Jack. As a 51st century human who was familiar with the TARDIS, he would be more than capable of tracking down the TARDIS. However, it was obvious that the organization currently holding him wasn't Torchwood, and he was pretty sure that Torchwood was limited to the United Kingdom. Even then, the Doctor was sure that Jack wouldn't just sell him out to some random government organization. After all, Jack had been protecting him for this long, why change now?

And, as for his lovely human companions, none of them had the ability to track him down.

So… that left extraterrestrial. Which, when it came to Earth, was usually his job anyway, so he might as well stuck around to figure out what these people wanted him for and to find out who had helped track him down.

In the mean time, he was stuck here. The people here seemed to be more efficient at their jobs than most he had seen, and they had taken his jacket (which had his sonic screwdriver and other gadgets in its dimensionally expanded pockets) and, unfortunately, his shoes.

The Doctor wiggled his bare toes against the floor in despair, and was simply thankful that his core body temperature was much lower than a human's. He could only imagine how much he might be shivering right now if he wasn't a Time Lord.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So?" the Black Widow asked.

"He's been cooperative so far," Coulson told her.

The two of them were watching the odd stranger from the other side of the one-way mirror. Natasha unfolded her arms to pick up one of the strange objects they had found in the man's coat pocket. It was apparently the only thing on his person that they might be able to consider a weapon. Unfortunately, SHIELD scientists hadn't able to make it do anything, but when an agent had pressed the button next to the screen displaying alien settings, the glowing blue light had reminded them too much of the tesseract and Loki's sceptor for anyone to be particularly comfortable with it.

"His pockets hold more than they should," Coulson continued as he eyed the long, skinny, silver object that Agent Romanov held in her hand. She touched the blue jewel that was embedded at the end.

"What do you mean?"

"They're bigger on the inside somehow," Coulson explained. "In one pocket we found that thing, a bag of candy, a rubber chicken, a stethoscope, a scarf, a flute, 3-D glasses, blank paper, and what looks like some cross between an open-spool tape recorder from the 1960s and a lunchbox."

The corners of his mouth twitched upward when he saw the look of disbelief on Natasha's face.

"They'd felt empty when we'd originally searched him, but when we confiscated his coat, things just kept coming out."

"I guess I'll just tack that on to my list of things to ask him when I begin my interrogation," Natasha said wryly as she carefully placed the piece of metal back down onto the table. She knew better than to fidget with what could be alien tech.

"Everything we've found has been harmless for the most part," Coulson reassured her. "We've tried to get into the Police Box he arrived in, but we haven't had any luck opening the doors yet."

"I imagine it'll be interesting when you manage it," Natasha remarked as she headed for the door.

It was time for the interrogation to begin.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Doctor jumped a bit when the door finally opened, and he looked at the newcomer through the mirror he was facing. Much to the Doctor's delight, the person interrupting his solitude was ginger. His day was looking up already.

"Hello," the Doctor greeted.

To her credit, the red head wasn't put off by the Doctor's out of place and upbeat greeting. Instead she simply returned the greeting.

"Hello. My name is Agent Romanov," the red head introduced herself after she'd sat down, placed her arms on the table to rest, and laced her fingers together.

"Hello, Agent Romanov," the Doctor said. "I'm the Doctor."

"Just the Doctor?"

"Yep, that's my name."

"Well, Doctor, I'm here to tell you why we've picked you up. I'm sure you must have questions."

"Well, yes, I do actually," the Doctor said eagerly. It wasn't often that the people who'd captured him actually bothered to explain why they had done so, and if they did, it was even more unusual for them to allow him to talk.

"Where exactly am I?" the Doctor asked first. "I know I'm on Earth, but I wasn't able to get a good read on my coordinates."

"You're at a SHIELD base of operations in the United States. For security reasons, I can't tell you where exactly."

"Right, of course," the Doctor said a little absentmindedly. He'd figured he was in America, but, obviously, he was still a little unsure about where. If he had to make his best guess than he'd say he was somewhere in the midwest, but his American geography had always been a little bit dodgy.

"The next obvious question, I suppose, is why and how did you pick me up?"

The Doctor's slightly jovial facade had peeled off at the edges, and the look the Doctor gave the red-haired agent demanded answers. Romanov kept her face carefully blank, and when she answered him, her voice was smooth and unaffected by the Doctor's subtle change in attitude.

"We've been tracking you for a long time, Doctor," Agent Romanov admitted. "After the last couple of years of hostile alien interaction and the most recent attack on New York City, SHIELD was unwilling to let an unknown, possible alien travel unchecked on American soil."

"Attack on New York City?" the Doctor parroted his pretty captor. "When was this?"

"Three months ago in May."

"And...the year?"

Agent Romanov gave him a look.

"2012."

"Ah...busy year," the Doctor said, almost to himself. "Well, that answers the why, but it doesn't even begin to answer the how. You shouldn't have been able to predict my location."

"We had a little outside help."

"Who from?"

"Classified."

"Right..."

The Doctor squinted at the other, looking faintly ridiculous. He looked as if he believed he could read her mind if he simply squinted hard enough.

"Well, I suppose I don't have many other questions other than 'could you please let me go?'"

"Not right now."

"Course," the Doctor responded, rolling his eyes as he did. "That never works."

"My turn," Romanov began. "What's your agenda?"

"Agenda?" the Doctor repeated, nonplussed. "Er, well, I was actually on my way to a really fabulous party, but I was alittle waylaid, obviously. I'm actually supposed to be at the coronation of the fourth king of Bhafigljomas. Nice bloke, if a little dull, but his wife really knows how to throw a party. Much better than the cornonation of the ninth king, although the coronations did get a bit better again after that diplomatic mess."

"And your agenda here on Earth?"

"Hmm?" the Doctor hummed questioningly, his eyebrows nearly glued to his hairline and his eyes open wide. "Well, fun, I suppose? Never really have any plans in mind when I'm visiting Earth, although sometimes I like to visit friends. In England mostly. Usually if anything happens, it just happens to me. I've a bad habit of getting into trouble."

"We've noticed," Romanov said wryly, a little visibly affected by the outrageous things the man was constantly spouting. When starting the interrogation, she'd simply assumed the man in front of her was an alien, and the other man simply seemed to assume it to. At the very least, he didn't seem very keen to hide anything. The man was the very definition of 'open' at the moment.

"Yes, well, my reputation precedes me sometimes."

"We haven't been able to pick up any information on you, actually," Romanov admitted. "Most of the agencies in Britain are pretty closed mouthed about anything they have on you."

"Oh?"

The Doctor had known that none of his regular contacts and friends in either UNIT or Torchwood would have ratted him out to any over-paranoid American organizations, but it was always nice to have that knowledge confirmed.

"Yes, we've only been able to gather informaiton about you through second-hand accounts and grainy photographs."

"Well, I don't like to advertise myself..."

"It could get a little awkward," Agent Romanov agreed. "Being an alien and all."

"Yeah, well," the Doctor just shrugged. "No one ever believes me anyway. It's always 'oh! But you look human!'"

"So what are you then?" Natasha pressed.

"Not human," the Doctor laughed. "Let's just say that I come from a planet that doesn't exist, and that I'm not a threat to mankind. I rather like it here. I've gotten rather attached actually."

"Right," Agent Romanov said in reponse to that declaration.

The Doctor could tell that she didn't fully believe him, but he was answering her questions as honestly as he felt he could.

"Anything else?" he asked.

"The silver thing that you had on you," Romanov asked. "What is it and what does it do?"

"Silver...thing? Oh-" the Doctor suddenly realized what she must have been referring to. It seems that they'd rifled through his pockets quite a bit. At least they couldn't open up the TARDIS without the TARDIS key. Which, thankfully, was safely hidden around his neck for once.

"My sonic screwdriver?" the Doctor said. "It's sonic-y and you can use it for lots of things. Building mostly. It doesn't do wood though, and that's actually kind of embarassing. You don't know how many tight spots I've been in where a wood setting would have come in handy. I really have to get on that one day..."

"It's a sonic...screwdriver?" Agent Romanov repeated, not sure whether or not she should pay attention to his ramblings, but for the sake of her job, she continued to mentally take notes on everything he was saying.

"Yep, extremely useful for opening up doors I've found. Although it can do other stuff, too," the Doctor continued. "A lot of people scoff at it, but I think a sonic screwdriver is much better than having a laser screwdriver or a sonic blaster or something. Much nicer anyway."

"So it's not a weapon?" Romanov asked for clarification.

The Doctor's eyebrows found their home at the top of his forehead once again.

"Weapon? Absolutely not," the Doctor said firmly. "I don't carry or condone weapons of any kind."

"Okay," Romanov said. "I think we're done for now."

She stood abruptly and made her way toward the door.

"What-but, wait!" the Doctor sputtered, looking bewildered as he stared at the retreating red head. "Aren't you going to let me go?"

"I'll let you know after I consult with my superiors."

Natasha knocked on the door with two sharp raps. The partition slide open and once the guard saw what he was looking for, he opened the door.

"But- wh- can I at least get my shoes back?" the Doctor complained, his face scrunched up in disbelief.

"We'll see."

And the door slammed shut.


	3. Reasoning with the Doctor Never Goes Well...Especially for Coulson

"So that went well," Coulson said mildly, not turning from watching the supposed alien scrath the back of his head in the next room.

"That's a word for it," Natasha muttered darkly. "The guys either insane, extremely clever, or both."

"Seems so," Coulson agreed. "But I think we've almost got enough on the guy to make certain he isn't a threat."

"He does seem like the kind of guy to stumble into dangerous situations by accident," Romanov commented, almost to herself.

"I'll talk to him next," Coulson told her. "We'll keep him until Thor can make it back from Asgard. I'd like to have his opinion about this. The last time I talked to him about all this he hinted at knowing more than he was telling."

"I'll write down the notes on these interrogation sessions tonight. You'll have my profile and assessment in by tomorrow morning."

"Sounds good," Coulson said as he opened to door and made his way to the prisoner.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Hello again," Coulson greeted the ruffled-looking alien. It seemed he had a nervous habit of running his hands through his hair repeatedly when stuck in interrogation cells. He couldn't really blame the guy.

"Oh," the Doctor said, looking around his shoulder to stare at Coulson with wide eyes. It seemed he hadn't expected to see anyone else so soon. "That was quick. Did somebody make the decision to let me go already?"

"Not just yet," Coulson said, a smile lurking just below the surface of his carefully constructed blank face.

"Ah," the Doctor said knowingly as Coulson sat down in the seat Romanov had recently vacated. "Here to question me some more?"

"Yes," Coulson said, setting his hands on the table in front of him. "My name is Agent Coulson. I heard your name is the Doctor."

"Yup," the Doctor said.

"You know why we picked you up," Coulson continued. "After all, we can't let you run around in the United States unchecked. That would be a major breach of security, and we'd all lose our jobs, especially in light of recent events."

"Oh, yes, the New York invasion," the Doctor said with a grimace. To be honest, he had kind of forgotten about that, and he really shouldn't have. He'd been meaning to check out that particular Earth event, after all it was the major event that brought together one of the greatest Earth Defense Forces in the history of mankind, but he'd been distracted by one thing or another, and hadn't gotten around to it just yet.

"Glad to know that everything turned out all right with that one though," the Doctor said to Coulson, remembering that the organization SHIELD had played a large part in forming and preserving the Avengers Initiative.

"Better than we'd hoped," Coulson said, nodding at the alien across from him. "Now, from what you've told Agent Romanov, you seem to be a friendly alien. However, we haven't been able to get any specifics from the British organizations Torchwood or UNIT, so that makes it difficult to determine the nature of your past interactions with Earth."

"I- uh, suppose it would like rather suspicious if you just saw me running about whenever there was an alien invasion...yeah," the Doctor said, squinting his eyes in the distance a little as he thought about how that might look to an outsider who didn't have access to all the details. "Er, well, just call up UNIT again and let them know that the Doctor says you can have accesst to all my files. If they kick up a fuss, just say 'buffalo.' They'll give you whatever you want then."

"Uh," Coulson said, completely and honestly bewildered for the first time in a long time. "Buffalo?"

"Yeah," the Doctor nodded. "Don't try that with Torchwood though. They aren't exactly fond of me...well, I'm not exactly fond of them either. Started out with a bit of a disagreement with Queen Victoria, it's been spiralling out of control since then, but if you must talk to someone from Torchwood, try Torchwood Three in Cardiff. Captain Jack Harkness would be your best bet. He's the most knowledgeable out of the lot of them."

"Right," Coulson said, not believing the kind of information this guy was giving them. Either he was completely crazy or the most valuable asset they had stumbled upon since Thor. "If that clears out then I suppose we'll have to let you go."

"That'd be great, yeah," the Doctor said with a rather charming grin. "Although I'd still like to know how you were able to track me down, y'know. Not just anyone can do that."

"He's a friend of ours," Coulson said.

"Alien?" the Doctor prompted.

"Yeah," Coulson said, thinking of the blond God of Thunder and then of his warning. "He warned me about you when he helped track you down."

"Warned you?" the Doctor repeated, raising one of his eyebrows. "About me? Why?"

"He said that few had the knowledge or power to do what you do. Travel through space and time that is," Coulson explained. "He said that the power belonged almost exclusively to the oldest civilization in the universe, but that their policies were that of strict non-interference. Because of that, you were most likely a renegade acting outside of their laws. So, therefore you were something we should be wary of."

"So," Coulson continued, "What I'd like to know is, is he right? You said earlier that you came from a planet that no longer exists."

The Doctor stared at Coulson quietly for some time. Coulson didn't show how unnerved he was by the blank stare he was getting from this particular man. After all, from what they'd seen so far, normally the Doctor was energy in motion, but now he was sitting very still. Almost unnatrually so.

"What I said earlier is true," the Doctor finally acknowledged. "My home doesn't exist anymore. However, I think I'd like to speak to your friend when I get a chance."

"So, you know what civilization he's talking about?"

"There can only be one," the Doctor said. "The Time Lords. Oldest cilivization in the universe, or at least just about. Very advanced, but very traditional."

"Right. Time Lords..." Coulson said. "That's a very...interesting title."

"Oh, pompous as hell," the Doctor scoffed. "Like I said, very traditional. Also very strict and very boring. But anyway, like I said, I'm not a threat to mankind. I think that was the most important bit out of all that."

"Glad to hear it," Coulson said, tapping his fingers on the table, and he made to get up. "We'll check you out with UNIT and Torchwood Three, and get back to you soon."

"Just remember," the Doctor said as Coulson rose and walked toward the door. "Buffalo and Captain Jack Harkness! Oh! And my shoes!"

"Buffalo and Captain Jack Harkness," Coulson repeated dutifully just as the door opened to let him outside. "We'll see about the shoes."

"Bugger."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Have you already contacted UNIT and Torchwood Three?" Coulson asked when he walked back into the observation room.

"Yes," Romanov said as she worked on a SHIELD laptop. "UNIT was more than cooperative when we told them the passcode and then asked after the Doctor. Apparently the Doctor worked with them as a Scientific Advisor to help with hostile alien encounters through the 70s and into the 80s. After that, his contact with them looks to be nearly non-existent, but UNIT has him listed as a staff member from the 1970s onward. The Doctor worked with them again just recently in the mid-2000s."

"So, I'm guessing this guy is a lot older than he looks," Coulson said.

"That's one way of putting it," Romanov said dryly. "But look at the staff pictures they have for the Doctor."

Natasha opened up a new window in the UNIT files that SHIELD now had access to, and she showed Coulson the three different pictures UNIT had on file for the Doctor. One, the first, was of an older man who was about fifty. The man had curly, white hair and a very prominent nose, but it was his clothes that were his most striking features. He was dressed in a suit made entirely of red velvet and his shirt was frilled. The next man was a bit younger and had curly black hair poking out of a white panama hat. He was dressed in an off-white safari jacket, and a yellow, green and red pullover sweater decorated in question marks.

The final picture was taken in the last five years, and the Doctor they had now looked exactly as he had back when the picture was taken.

"What do you think this means?" Coulson asked Agent Romanov.

"There's no way to know for sure unless we ask," Romanov said. "Either this really is all him somehow, or 'Doctor' is some kind of title passed down from person to person. However, UNIT is pretty clear that anyone who calls themselves Doctor and flies around in a blue Police box is an ally to humanity."

"What about Torchwood?" Coulson asked.

"I have the number for Torchwood Three's Captain Jack Harkness here," Natasha said and she handed Coulson a slip of paper. "I think that we have more than enough here from UNIT to prove that he's definitely friendly, but it can't hurt to get a second opinion."

"Alright," Coulson said, looking at the number and punching it into his cellphone. "I'll just get a confirmation from this Captain Harkness, and we'll release the Doctor from the interrogation room."

"Should we keep him on site until Thor gets here?" Natasha asked.

"Probably," Coulson replied as the his phone rang. "Something tells me this Doctor fellow will want to meet Thor anyway."

Coulson put a finger over his lips when he heard someone on the other line pick up the phone.

"Hello," the voice of a young, male American could be heard from the speaker of Coulson's phone. "Torchwood Three, Cardiff division. How can I help you?"

"Am I speaking to a Captain Jack Harkness?"

"Speaking, who's this?"

"This is Agent Coulson of SHIELD, the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division. We're holding a man called the Doctor here. We just wanted to confirm that he's a non-aggressive alien lifeform."

"WHAT?"

Coulson held the phone away from his ear at the sudden outburst from the other side.

"Captain Harkness?"

"Here," the Captain's voice came in a rush from the other side. "Sorry, dropped my phone. Did you just say that you're holding the Doctor over there? Like, a young, spiky-haired, pin-stripe suit wearing Doctor?"

"Uh, yes," Coulson said. He looked over at Natasha was raising her eyebrow at the sudden odd behavior, and Coulson just shrugged in response. "You know him?"

"Yeah, I know him! And, yeah, he's fine. Most non-aggressive alien life form out there. The ultimate pacifist, well, most of the time anyway. Just don't do anything to make him angry."

"What makes him angry?" Coulson asked out of curiosity.

"Takes a lot. You know, genocide, threatening kids, that kind of thing. Trust me, he's a nice guy," the Captain assured him. "Hey, how long are you going to have him there? Is there anyway I can-"

"Thank you for your help, Captain Harkness," Coulson quickly cut the other off before he could make any requests. "We'll be sure to return the favor if ever you need it."

"Hey, wait, I-"

Coulson quickly shut his phone.

"Well, I got basically the same response from Torchwood that we got from UNIT. I'll take him out of the interrogation room and into a temporary room. We'll get in contact with Director Fury and ask him where we can hold him and his things until Thor gets back."

"Yes, sir."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Good news."

"You're letting me go?" the Doctor said hopefully when Coulson walked back into the room once again.

"Sort of," Coulson said as he stood in front of the open door with his hands on his hips. "Well, you're getting your shoes back at least."

Coulson gestured for one of the grunts to place the Doctor's off-white All-Star Converse (plus his bright red socks) in front of the Doctor.

"Yes!" the Doctor shouted gleefully as he pulled his socks and shoes on. He wiggled his toes once they were covered again, looking delighted. "Was it really necessary to take my shoes in the first place?"

"Best way to make it harder to escape. Most don't get far without a pair of shoes or they make stupid mistakes trying to get some."

"I suppose..." the Doctor grumbled.

"Uncuff him too," Coulson ordered and soon the Doctor was following the agent down the SHIELD base's hallways to his new temporary room.

"We talked to UNIT and Torchwood, and everything checks out like you said," Coulson told the Doctor. "There were a few discrepancies with your identity in UNIT though."

"Discrepancies?"

"Two out of the three photos for 'The Doctor' don't look like you," Coulson explained. "So, we were wondering, is 'Doctor' a title that's passed down or...?"

"Er, no," the Doctor said a little awkwardly. He looked mostly embarrassed at not predicting this complication. "They're me."

Coulson stopped walking to look at the Doctor, his face carefully blank and the Doctor was beginning to suspect that this was actually his shocked face. The Doctor just put his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his heels, not quite looking the agent in the eye.

"All of them?"

"Yep."

"How?"

"Er, I regenerate," the Doctor shrugged. "My race, when we're about to die, we have the option of regenerating. I'm basically the same person as the other two you saw, but with a completely new body and new personality."

"Right."

This was another thing that was going onto his 'too-weird-to-process-now-I'll-do-it-later' list. It had been growing at an alarming rate ever since SHIELD had started making contact with aliens. He suspected this was only the beginning.

"How many times can you regenerate?"

"503."

Coulson just stared again. The Doctor stopped rocking and his face split into an enormous grin.

"Just kidding," the Doctor assured the other. "I'm on my tenth regeneration, but I've got a few more to go before I'm up. I am getting a bit on in years..."

The Doctor looked strangely forlorn as he considered his increasing age.

"How old are you?"

"Blimey, you're nosy!" the Doctor said, but with a grin, so Coulson knew he hadn't offended the strange alien accross from him. "All these personal questions! How old are you?"

"I turned fifty in April," Coulson said with a hint of a smile on his face.

"Oh, wow, really?" the Doctor said, taking the time to properly look at the other. "You look good for a human your age."

"Thank you? I think?"

"You're welcome."

The two continued walking down the hallway again, but this time the atmosphere between them was a little more comfortable.


	4. What Exactly Is This Thing?

The Doctor laid down on the bed in his SHIELD provided room, his sock covered feet propped up by the end of the bed and his head pillowed by his hands. Phil had told him that he could leave to go the mess hall, and that he could use the bathroom attached to his bedroom, but, for his own safety, it would be best if he didn't go wandering about in or outside of the base.

The Doctor understood that this meant they wanted to keep him contained, and that he wasn't really being 'let free' so much as he was being given certain freedoms. After all, they hadn't given him back his coat or the rest of his things yet, and they hadn't let him know where they were keeping his TARDIS.

Fortunately, this fit into the Doctor's own plans. He wanted to see who SHIELD's alien contact was before he left the base, and it seemed they wanted him to meet this alien as well. After that, as long as he could get a hold of his sonic screwdriver, getting the rest of his things and getting to his TARDIS wouldn't be a problem.

All in all, not the worst situation he has ever been in. Plus, maybe if he was lucky he'd get to meet the Avengers. He couldn't quite recall who had been on the initial response team except for the former weapons manufacturer Anthony Stark, who'd become a pioneer in clean energy and had made revolutionary discoveries in the field of engineering.

After Stark though, his memory became a little faulty on the who made up the rest of the Avengers. There had been many similar groups running around during this time, especially when the population of super- and meta-humans increased dramatically. Although, he was pretty sure that Captain America was a part of the response team too, but the Doctor's knowledge of American and military history just wasn't up to par with his knowledge of engineering, science, or British history.

Tony Stark, the Doctor recalled, had stuck out in his mind because he had managed to involve himself by sheer technical and engineering brilliance alone. Stark had also managed to completely dismantle his weapons manufacturing department at the risk of running his own company into the ground. Truly, this was a man that the Doctor could at least admire for his mind and morals. If the Doctor managed to meet , perhaps they'd even get along on a personal level.

The Doctor was startled out of his musing by a knock on the door, and he turned to sit up straight on his bed.

"Come in," the Doctor called.

The door opened to reveal the red-headed Agent Romanov that he had spoken to before Agent Coulson.

"Ah!" the Doctor said cheerfully as he jumped up to greet her. "It's nice to see you again!"

The Doctor stuck out his hand to shake hers, and Agent Romanov rose one well defined eyebrow at the gesture, but she accepted the out-stretched hand in front of her to shake.

"The same, Doctor," Agent Romanov said almost tonelessly. "We just wanted to return some of your things to you."

"Fantastic!" the Doctor said, while noticing that she'd only said they'd be returning some of his things. Well, the Doctor only hoped that it would be the things he wanted.

Agent Romanov made a gesture behind her back, and a blond man wearing a vest and strips of leather on his arms walked in holding the doctor's coat with some of the things they had taken out of it laid carefully on top.

"I have a question, actually," Romanov said as the man placed the Doctor's coat down onto a table that was positioned between the bed and the doorway. "What exactly does this thing do?"

She pointed to the biggest object of the bunch. The Doctor squinted at what she was looking at until his eyes lit up in recognition.

"Ah!" he said as he jaunted over to pick the machine up. "It's my Timey-Wimey Detector! I almost forgot I had this!"

The Doctor turned the machine on and watched the mechanisms spin into life.

"Timey-Wimey Detector?" the man who had lingered to stand by Agent Romanov finally spoke up. He raised an eyebrow at the object in question and at the name its creator had given it.

"Well, long story," the Doctor admitted. "Had to create this little work of art in a bit of a bind."

"But what does it do?" Romanov pushed.

"It goes 'ding' when there's stuff, basically," the Doctor shrugged. "It can also cook an egg at thirty paces."

"Um," Agent Romanov looked confused, an expression that was obviously not meant for this woman's face. The man behind her just looked like he was smothering the urge to laugh as hard as he could.

"Of course, I had to learn to stay away from hens when I use this," the Doctor went on, his voice deepening enough to make it gravelly as he looked her dead in the eye. "It's not pretty when they blow."

The male agent finally lost the battle to control his laughter, and he let a bark of amusement escape him before he his face behind his hand in an attempt to smother his chuckles. It was probably the fact that the Doctor had said the last sentence with such seriousness that had broken the SHIELD agent's iron clad control over himself. However, Agent Romanov just took the information in stride and nodded.

"Right," she said.

"Oh," the Doctor said, once he realized their was someone else in the room besides the pretty red head. "Who's your friend?"

"Agent Barton," the man said, and the man held out his hand for the Doctor to shake.

The Doctor shifted his Timey-Wimey Detector from his right hand to his left and shook the offered hand.

"Pleased to meet you," the Doctor said.

"And you," the newly named Agent Barton said in reply.

The Doctor felt a little more at ease with the other man than he had when meeting both Agent Romanov and Agent Coulson. All of them had a military air about them, but Agents Romanov and Coulson felt especially closed off to him while Agent Barton was the most open, or at least honest, person he had met in this base that was willing to talk to him.

"Any other questions, class?" the Doctor said with a grin as he put the Detector back on the table with the rest of his things. The Doctor noticed with a slight frown that they hadn't given him back his sonic screwdriver just yet. Well, if they kept it for too long he'd have to start asking. Until then he doubted they would get much from it. Half the settings were meant for telepaths and the other half would look like gibberish to anyone from the 21st century. And, of course, even if they did manage to get it working, the worst that they could do would be to turn their own computers on or off. Not too much to worry about.

"One question," Agent Romanov said, obviously taking the Doctor's offer seriously. The Doctor just raised an eyebrow at the woman, indicating that she could ask her question if she really wanted to.

"How can you fit so many things into your pockets?" she asked, and the Doctor just smiled.

"That's an easy one," he said. "They're dimensionally expanded."

"Uh, so..." Agent Barton cut in. "Your pockets lead to another dimension?"

"Er," the Doctor said, his face contorted slightly into a bit of a grimace as he thought about the new question. Did the idea of dimensionally-expanded pockets normally bother 21st century humans? He swore he could never tell what would set them off. "Yeahhhh?"

"How does something like that even work?" Agent Barton asked incredulously.

"Well," the Doctor said. "I'd explain, but I'm afraid the explanation might go over your head a bit."

He even made a over-the-head gesture with his hand as he said this.

"Right, probably. Thanks anyway," Agent Romanov said, thinking to the gibberish Stark and Banner liked to spout whenever they got together. Perhaps she could convince the Doctor to explain his pockets to someone from Research and Development.

"S'alright," the Doctor said.

"We'll talk to you later," she said as she herded Barton out of the door.

"I'll just hang out here then, shall I?"

"Just for a little while, Doctor," she said over her shoulder, an eyebrow raised at the forlorn-looking Doctor they were leaving behind in his room.

Well, the Doctor just hoped it wouldn't take too long for their awaited alien friend to show up. He already missed his TARDIS.

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Any sign of Thor?" Natasha asked as she walked into the lab.

"Not yet," Coulson said. He was overlooking the new scans a tech was running on the small metal wand they had picked up from their new alien visitor.

Coulson had talked to Director Fury and, thankfully, the director had approved of their actions so far, especially when they'd told him about the contacts and pass codes the Doctor had given them for the hard-to-contact UNIT and Torchwood. However, he'd demanded that they run some more tests on the blue crystal wand they'd picked up. After the series of disasters they'd experienced a couple of months ago, SHIELD was not going to take any chances. Coulson had told the science team here to search for any traces of gamma radiation or any of the other frequencies the Tesseract and other similar devices (aka Loki's spear) had shown up on.

Fortunately, they hadn't been able to pick anything up, but they still didn't have a clue what the purpose of the device might be. Coulson consideredasking Stark or Banner to come and check it out, but he wasn't sure if he was overreacting just yet. In the end, he decided to put off any decisions until Thor arrived. Having Thor talk to the Doctor and figure out what the Doctor was hiding from them would be their number one priority. After all, it was one thing to have the approval of Earth-based experts, it was another thing entirely to have the approval of the Norse Thunder God, Crown Prince of Asgard.

"All right," Coulson told his team. "Keep running any scans you can think of, and try testing out some more settings."

An exasperated scientist nodded and changed the setting on the metal wand yet again. They'd been doing this for a while now, with little to no success.

"Maybe we should just ask him what this one does, too," Natasha said as she looked at the experiment results. All of them told them nothing they couldn't figure out by manually inspecting the alien object.

"Did you ask him what the lunchbox-tape recorder hybrid was?" Coulson asked curiously as they stepped out of the lab and into the hallway.

"He said it was a..." Natasha paused for a second, trying to keep her facial muscles from contracting. "Timey-Wimey Detector."

"Pardon?" Coulson asked, for once the shock blatantly obvious on his face.

"Timey-Wimey Detector," Natasha repeated. "Apparenly it goes ding when there's stuff."

"That's its purpose?" Coulson asked, voice even more dead pan than it was usually.

"It can also cook an egg at thirty paces. He said it was important to stay away from hens when using it," Romanov said. She wasn't even sure if she was dreaming or asleep at the moment. She could have sworn she'd had a dream like this once after she'd read Through the Looking-Glass.

"Ah," Coulson said. "Makes sense."

"If you say so, sir."

Coulson and Romanov continued down the hallway, a slightly stunned silence settling between the two of them.

"How did he get along with Barton?"

"He took to him better than either you or me," Natasha admitted. "It might be because Barton doesn't have nearly as much emotional and mental training as the two of us."

"He does seem like the kind of guy to respond better to someone more open," Coulson said, thinking about his own time with the alien. "Maybe we should ask Barton to spend some time with the Doctor. See what he can get out of him that he might not feel comfortable telling us."

"I'll tell Barton to escort the Doctor to the mess hall in an hour or two," Natasha said.

"Sounds good," Coulson said. "Make sure to meet up with them later so that they don't get too suspicious, but give them at least five minutes together."

"Understood."

 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Barton let out a small sigh of breath as he knocked on the Doctor's door. Natasha had told him to go pick up the new alien guy, and even though he wasn't that crazy about aliens in general (Thor excluded), he had to admit that he'd enjoyed the Doctor's company. The guy certainly had a sense of humor, or he was at least able to provide unwitting entertainment for the professional archer.

"Coming!"

Barton smirked as he heard the yell from behind the door accompany a thumping sound. Barton guessed that he'd startled the Doctor out of bed or where ever else he might have been laying. Suddenly the door swung open to reveal a frazzled looking Doctor.

"Hello?" the Doctor greeted the agent, looking a little confused to see only Barton standing outside of his door. He peeked his head out a bit and looked to the left and the right, scoping out the rest of the hallway, before turning back to look at Agent Barton again. "Can I help you?"

"Uh, Natasha sent me here to help you get some food," Barton said, using the old blame-the-third-party tactic to avoid a little awkwardness.

"Natasha?" the Doctor repeated, blinking at the other man, his wide eyes betraying his confusion.

"Agent Romanov," Barton clarified.

"Oh," the Doctor said, his mouth making a perfect 'O' shape. "Well, that's very...Russian. Natasha Romanov."

"You don't say," Barton said wryly in response.

"What's your name then?" the Doctor asked as he stepped out of his room and closed the door behind him. "Your given name, I mean."

"Clint."

"...Interesting name."

"Right back at you, Doctor."

The Doctor chuckled at the quick response. Of course, his name, or not-name it would seem, would be the weirdest one here.

"So what choices do we have for food?" the Doctor asked.

Barton started walking down the hallway and made a gesture for the Doctor to follow him. "Well, that depends on what you want."

"Do they have bananas?" the Doctor asked, hopefully. "I love bananas! Apples, too. Can't stand pears though..."


	5. This Chapter, If It Be Worthy, Shall See The Arrival of Thor

"So, wait, you're saying that this guy you picked up in the middle of the London Blitz was really a Time Agent from the 51st century, who actually wasn't a Time Agent but a con man, and that he accidently created zombies when he picked up an alien medical craft, that had already thrown your ship out of orbit, for the purpose of conning you. And that the things that were responsible for the zombies were actually tiny medical robots-"

"Nanogenes," the Doctor corrected.

"Uh, nanogenes, and that they'd tried to 'fix' a human kid, but screwed up, and that he was looking for his mommy, and that when he finally did, it fixed everything and everyone lived?"

"Well, basically, when you want to simplfy it like that, yes, I suppose, but it was a bit more believeable when you had to live through it," the Doctor said, squinting at the ceiling as he thought over everything Agent Barton had repeated back to him. "And, of course, you left out a lot of the exciting bits too..."

"Right," Clint said, wishing that he'd never asked the Doctor to tell him about some of his time here on Earth. "Y'know, I don't think I'll be able to tell anyone this story. Either they're going to lock me up in an insane asylum, or they're going to lock you up."

"Nahhh," the Doctor said. "I've been telling people about my adventures for years and that's never happened to me. Besides, that's not even the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me."

"...why? What's the weirdest?"

"Well, there were the werewolves in Scotland..."

"Stop! I don't want to hear that story!"

"And the Vashta Nerada in The Library where I met my wife from the future for the first time..." the Doctor said thoughtfully, thinking back to that day on The Library. That hadn't been a very good day, but at least he'd managed to make it a little better...

"Your wife?" Clint asked, looking a little perturbed at the idea of this young-looking alien having a wife. "You have a wife?"

"Well, not yet. That was the first time I met her, remember?" the Doctor reminded him. "That happens a lot when you're a time traveller. You don't always meet people in the right order."

"I see," Clint said, even though it was pretty obvious that he really didn't.

"And besides, she wouldn't be my first wife," the Doctor said. "I've been married before. But she'll be the first, well, kind of second, human wife that I've had."

"Oh, so you have a wife back from where ever you come from?" Clint asked.

The Doctor grimaced at the new question.

"Er, well, no," the Doctor said. "No, I don't have any family. Not anymore. I don't have a planet anymore."

Clint watched the Doctor frown down at the food he was picking at, and decided to change the subject a little bit.

"So... it sounds like you've got a habit of picking people up when you go on adventures."

The Doctor's head picked up at this, and he scrunched his face up in thought.

"Yeah," the Doctor shrugged. "I usually like to bring someone along when I travel. I've always loved revisiting my favorite places with people who haven't been there before. It's like seeing things completely anew."

"So, who did you bring along first?" Clint asked.

"Er, first?" the Doctor looked taken aback. "Well, that was my granddaughter. Long time ago now..."

"Granddaughter?" Clint repeated incredulously. "You have grandkids? How old are you?"

"Just over nine hundred," the Doctor said. The Doctor's face had smoothed out pleasantly into a bright smile as he watched Agent Barton choke on his saliva. Apparently Clint hadn't expected that answer.

"But you don't look old at all," Clint insisted. "What? Are you like the Asgardians?"

"The Asgardians?" the Doctor repeated this time. "What do they have to do with anything?"

"Agent Barton."

The two of them jumped and turned to look at the red-haired woman that was suddenly standing next to their table. The Doctor and Clint hadn't noticed how close they'd moved toward each other as their discussion had slowly grown more intense. The Doctor felt slightly embarrassed now that they'd been interrupted, and he could think back on some of the things he'd said. Normally he wouldn't tell anyone these details about his life, but it seemed this unique situation was making him spill his guts out to the SHIELD agent. Not that anything he'd told him could really be used against him, but it just wasn't information that he usually told people intentionally.

Maybe it was the lack of distraction that constant travelling and adventures noramally provided him with that was making him so talkative. After all, he'd been waiting in this bland, architecturally-uninspired concrete block of a military base for the day or so with nothing to do but talk to Agents Barton, Romanov, and Coulson. Plus, their wasn't much chance of an escape even if he wanted to just yet since they had neglected to return his sonic screwdriver. The Doctor was sort of procrastinating about asking for it back since he didn't want to upset any of the tentative friendships he'd developed with his SHIELD aquaintances, but he'd have to ask after it eventually.

"Romanov," Clint replied, clearing his throat and straightening up a bit so that he could look the other SHIELD agent in the eye.

"Coulson wants to see you in Staff Room 3," she told him, although her stare seemed to say something different to the field agent. What that message was, the Doctor had no idea.

"Right," Clint nodded, noticeably shifting into a more professional state of mind. "I'll catch you later, Doctor."

"Okay," the Doctor said, nodding as he picked at his food some more (it was a rather disappointing fruit salad made with pears). "Later then."

"Doctor," Agent Romanov finally acknowledged him as he sat down in Agent Barton's seat.

"Natasha," he greeted with a wide grin.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Coulson?" Barton asked as he walked into Staff Room 3, otherwise known as the code name for Coulson's second office.

"In here."

Barton walked toward the closed door where Coulson's voice was coming from, and opened it to see Tony Stark aka Iron Man and Coulson looking at the metal wand the Doctor had been carrying when they brought him in.

"You know, he's going to ask for that back one of these days," Clint told them as they shut the door behind him.

"Well, hi to you to Robin Hood," Stark said as he gazed intently at the peice of metal in front of him.

"We're well aware that the Doctor will soon be asking about his missing property," Coulson said, looking over Tony's shoulder as he gazed at the piece of machinery in front of him. "But until he asks..."

"We'll just keep it?" Barton prompted, crossing his arms and leaning against the door jam.

"Hey, here's an idea," Stark said suddenly looking up from his newest obsession. "Did you guys ask him what this thing was."

"Yes," Coulson said. "He called it a... "

Coulson pulled a small notepad out of his left breast pocket, ignoring Tony's sneer at the idea of actually writing things down on paper, and read from one of the small pages filled with cramped handwriting.

"A sonic screwdriver, is what he called it. He was a little more vague on the function, but to quote him, he said it was 'sonic-y' and that it could build. Specifically, he mentioned that it was good for opening up doors, but that it 'doesn't do wood' and he's trying to create a setting for it. We're a little... unsure about what that means."

"Right," Tony said, absorbing in the crazy better than most of the other agents in SHIELD, despite it being secondhand. "Anything else?"

"He did mention other devices that may possibly be structurally similar to the sonic screwdriver yet fundamentally different. Laser screwdrivers and sonic disruptors were the two he mentioned. He seems to find weapons distasteful on principle."

"Yeah," Barton scoffed. "That's a bit of an understatement."

"Oh?" Tony turned his attention to the master marksman/assassin once again. "Do you have anything to tell the class, Barton? What did you learn from the newest alien on the block?"

"Well, besides some of the craziest stories I've ever heard," Clint began, rubbing the back of his head as he thought. "I'm getting the impression that this guy's like a big space hippy who happens to stumble into trouble a lot. He told me that since he didn't like this weapons factory in the 51st century, he turned it into a banana field."

"I- uh, what?" Stark asked, for once speechless. "Bananas?"

"Yeah, he really likes bananas, but he really doesn't like guns or weapons," Clint said. "I kind of get the impression that he'd really get along with the war-protesting hippies from the sixties. Well, except that he's really into science and technology. He really likes talking about stuff like the evolution of computers."

Clint made a face that spoke of long suffering, but Stark perked up in contrast.

"Really?" Tony said. "I've really got to meet this guy. He's a time traveller, you said? What's his native time period? Wait, have you been able to get into his time machine? This is honestly the coolest thing I've heard since...well, I think ever."

"We're still working on opening up the police box," Coulson admitted. "If we didn't know from his arrival that it wasn't an ordinary box, we'd certainly know it now. That things shut up tighter than the Fort Knox."

"Do I get to look at that later, too?" Stark asked eagerly while not so subtly using the puppy-dog eyes technique on the unflappable SHIELD agent.

"Maybe later," Coulson said cooly as he took the sonic screwdriver from the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.

"Can I at least go meet him?" Stark pressed, looking like an excited little boy who wanted to make friends with the cool, new kid in class. "I mean, since I'm the one most likely to understand anything he says about technology, I could, you know, do my bit as a consultant and help you out with that. I imagine you'd want me to translate, right?"

"We'll see," Coulson said. "If he's still in the mess hall with Agent Romanov, then you can talk to him. If he's not, then I don't want you hanging around here for however long it's going to take Thor to show up."

"What? You don't want me here?" Tony asked, his voice full of mocking indignation.

"Not particularly, no," Coulson said dryly. "You have a bad habit of hacking into our computers when you get bored."

Stark scoffed and rolled his eyes in response.

"You do something like that one time-"

"Three times," Barton corrected.

"Whatever, three times, and you get a bad rep," Tony said. "I just want to meet this guy, and, hey, he sounds pretty interesting, so odds are I won't get bored even if I do hang around a bit. It's not like I have anything else interesting to do."

"Don't you have a company or something to run?" Clint asked with a chuckle.

"Pepper's the CEO," Stark countered. "She's got it."

"You still hold the majority of the shares though," Coulson helpfully pointed out.

"Whatever, details," Tony said. "Anyway, let's hit up the mess hall before the Black Widow kills and eats the space hippy for breakfast. Lead the way, Legolas."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thor felt both confident and apprehensive as he travelled the bifrost to the realm of Midgard. Heimdall had informed him that the interdimensional traveller he'd assisted both SHIELD and Jane Foster in tracking had been found and detained in one of the many bases SHIELD had in its possession. All looked peaceful to the gatekeeper, but Heimdall had informed him that all were waiting on his return.

It would put his mind at ease if Thor could make sure this newcomer did not pose a threat to his newly found home away from home.


	6. Romanov and Barton Wonder What They Did to Deserve This

"And so then we returned her to her native planet Raxacoricofallapatorius. After all, everyone deserves a second chance if they happen upon one," the Doctor said to the stunned looking red-headed agent in front of him. "That was one the last adventures my ninth regeneration had. I'm really glad I was able to end that life well."

The Doctor continued chewing thoughtfully on an apple slice, staring off into the distance as he continued rambling to the confused-looking agent. To her credit, however, Natasha was only staring at the man in front of her with her brow furrowed and looking no more perturbed than she usually did around the mysterious Doctor.

"So, this is your tenth regeneration?" Romanov ventured to guess.

"Well, yeah," the Doctor said, his chewing stopped, and he looked almost startled to notice she was paying attention. The Doctor figured he'd best stop his mouth from running away from him. It was definitely going to get him into trouble sometime in this regeneration.

"How many do you get?" Natasha asked, despite knowing that the Doctor had already told Coulson 503.

"About 209," the Doctor said with a teasing smile. "Depending on the weather."

"You're lying to me," she stated, rather than accused. She knew she really didn't have the moral highground to sound indignant whenever anyone lied to her.

"Of course I am," the Doctor nodded. "I have to keep some secrets after all."

"So everything else that you told me was true?" Romanov asked, now wondering how much he had told her was true and how much was false.

"Well, everything I said about my travels is true," the Doctor told her. "I do lie about my personal information every once in a while though. But everyone does that."

When Romanov raised her eyebrow at him and her mouth curved into a smile, he sputtered ingidnantly and continued.

"Well, they do! You know, weight, age, height. I mean, do you tell the truth when people ask you those things?"

"Point taken," she conceded and the smile was still on her lips when Clint walked in with a certain genius billionaire.

"Clint," she nodded at her comrade, and she slid over on the lunch table's bench to make room for him. He nodded back at her and took the place at her side.

"Hi," Tony said, holding his hand out to the stranger. "I'm Tony Stark."

"Oh!" the Doctor exclaimed when he realized who was in front of him.

The Doctor stood up, unconsciously straightened his suit a bit, took the hand that was being offered to him, and shook it vigourously, the grin on his face nearly taking up his whole face.

"Pleased to meet you!" the Doctor exclaimed, his silly grin jumpstarting Tony's own. "Really, I've heard great things about your work in clean energy and engineering!"

"I, uh, really?" Tony said, his hand still clasped in the Doctor's even though the handshake had ended. "You've heard about the clean energy and stuff?"

"Absolutely!" the Doctor enthused. He sat back down and slid over so that Tony could take a seat next to him. "You've done some fantastic work! And years ahead of your time too! You're a proper genius, aren't you? Well, for a human anyway."

Tony honestly didn't know what to say. It wasn't often, even now, that he was praised for his ability to do anything except create weaponry. In fact, he had to constantly remind everyone the painstaking work he had been doing to convert systems to feed off of arc reactor energy. His building was just the first step, and many just saw it as another display of egotism rather than an engineering masterpiece. Well, hopefully taking his name off of the tower and re-naming it the "Avengers Tower" would keep talk like that from popping up now.

"I- thanks, I guess," Tony said, strangely flattered despite the human comment. His body was angled toward the stranger next to him, and his mouth kept popping open every few seconds or so like he didn't know what to do with this much positive attention.

The Doctor looked like a little kid as he bounced slightly with excess energy next to Tony, and he looked like he was going to bombard him with questions at any moment.

Both Natasha and Clint glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. They really should have seen something like this coming. Of course the Doctor would fanboy over an engineering genius like Tony Stark, and of course Stark would take to the attention like a duck to water.

"Do you have any idea what they're talking about?" Clint whispered to Natasha. It seemed that the Doctor had finally given up hope on his own self-control and was asking Stark a number of complicated questions about the latest Stark projects. Neither were surprised to see that Tony was relieved he had another person around who could speak 'English.'

"None whatsoever," Natasha said out of the corner of her mouth, and she gave him a wry look.

Clint let out a small huff of laughter and tried once more in vain to follow the conversation that was raging in front of them. This was perhaps the worst idea he'd had all day. Finally, when they ran out of steam, Natasha took the small opening to introduce a topic they all might appreciate.

"So, Doctor, about the sonic screwdriver," Natasha interjected as casually as she could.

"Oh, yes, I was wondering when you were going to bring that up," the Doctor said, finally turning away from his fellow genius to look at the two SHIELD agents in front of him. "I'll have to ask for it back eventually, you know."

"It's really cool actually," Tony commented. "But the real reason they've been keeping it is because they think it might be related to Loki's glow stick of destiny."

Tony winced when Natasha delivered a sharp kick to his shin, but despite the large, ugly bruise he was sure to discover later, he kept a straight face.

"The, what?" the Doctor said, squinting at them in confusion. "Er, it does glow when you use it properly, but there's no connection with destiny or Loki."

"What do you use it for then?" Tony asked eagerly. "And, more importantly, how?"

"Opens doors for the most part," the Doctor said quickly. "And you just have to find the right setting for whatever you're using, but why did you mention Loki? Loki Odinson of Asgard, I assume you're referring to."

The Doctor had a funny feeling he should have brushed up a bit more on the Battle of Manhattan. He was having a very difficult time remembering the particulars. He didn't recall Asgard having any direct involvement in that one, at least not officially. And the puppetmaster behind that disaster had been Thanos and the Chitauri had been the puppets. The Doctor had a sinking feeling that he was missing something blindingly important.

"And this is the second time someone's mentioned Asgard. What does Asgard have to do with any of this?" the Doctor asked, swinging his head around to look at all three of them.

"I thought you were an alien time traveller?" Stark asked, one of his eyebrows raised. "Shouldn't you already know?"

"Well, I can't know everything can I?" the Doctor exclaimed, trying to defend his ignorance. "It's not like I can remember every little detail of every point in time everywhere in the universe. That'd make travelling pretty dull, wouldn't it?"

"What do you know?" Natasha asked him.

"Er, Battle of Manhattan, May 2012, Chitauri Invasion Stopped by the Avengers," the Doctor recited.

"That sounds like you just read the headline of a newspaper," Clint complained, crossing his arms to emphasize his displeasure.

"Well, yes, actually, that's about right," the Doctor admitted with a wince. He really should have taken the time to brush up on his history, especially the year 2012. After al, it was turning out to be an exciting time period, much to his surprise.

"Did you even know that Natasha and I are a part of the Avengers?" Clint continued.

"Oh, really?" the Doctor said before he realized this wasn't what the agent across from him wanted to hear. "Oh, I mean, of course."

"Right," Tony drawled, looking on with amusement as Barton glared his displeasure at the apologetic-looking alien. "Well, Hawkeye and Black Widow here are part of the Avengers as well as myself."

"Well, yes, you're Iron Man," the Doctor said.

"Of course, you remembered him," Barton muttered under his breath.

"Remember anyone else?" Natasha asked, ignoring the sulking agent next to her.

"I think I recall Captain America being on this particular response team as well?" the Doctor said, his voice hitting a higher pitch, revealing his insecurity in that statement.

"Yeah," Stark laughed, amused by the Doctor's reply. "And then we've got the Hulk, otherwise known as Dr. Bruce Banner and-"

"Bruce Banner!" the Doctor exclaimed, his whole face lighting up and lifting as he heard a name he was familiar with. "Fantastic work with gamma radiation! And a really nice guy, I recall!"

"I- well, yeah," Tony said, a little startled from being cut off again and the response the Doctor had to Bruce's name. Calling Bruce a really nice guy wasn't what most people had in mind when talking about the reclusive scientist, although Tony knew that the description was perfectly accurate.

"And last but not least there's-"

"It's Thor," Natasha said, looking at her phone.

"Well, yeah-"

"Wait, what about Thor?" the Doctor asked.

"He's here."

"Wait," the Doctor said, holding up a hand and closing his eyes for a moment. "We're back to Asgard again? Why is Thor here?"

"He's our sixth Avenger, and he's the one we've been waiting for."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Thor!" the Doctor exclaimed, skipping sideways along side Natasha as she lead everyone to the open grounds where Thor was waiting. "You should have told me the alien I've been waiting for was Thor! Blimey, I haven't seen him since he and his brother were as tall as my waist. Well, not this waist, I was a bit taller back then, and I had this really neat scarf too."

"Well, you'll see him in a moment or so," Natasha said, eyeing the stange man in front of her with amusement.

The Doctor gave her a wide grin, and he stopped skipping so that he could keep pace beside her.

"He must be really tall now," the Doctor mused. "I know I should have popped by sooner, but there's always something going on, you know. And it's not like the Asgardians age like humans either. Ususally takes them a few good centuries to leave childhood behind, but I still can't believe he's already grown! And Loki too, I imagine."

Tony and Clint looked at each other uneasily at the Doctor's last words. They weren't quite sure what the Doctor knew about Loki's status as a war criminal here on Earth. However, from what they were hearing, and from what little the Doctor knew about the incident from a few months ago, probably very little.

"He was the one that told you about me then?" the Doctor asked brightly.

"Yes," Natasha said. "He seemed to think that you were a dangerous renegade."

"Well, he was half-right I suppose," the Doctor admitted. "I am a renegade. Not really that dangerous though. Well, not to humans anyway."

"Then to who?" Tony asked curiously.

"Hmm?" the Doctor turned to look at him. "What?"

"You said you're not dangerous to humans," Tony clarified. "That implies that you're dangerous to someone."

"Yeah, well..." the Doctor shrugged. "Daleks, mostly. Cybermen, Sontarans, the Slitheen family. And other generally unpleasant beings."

"Right," Tony said, making a mental note to either ask Thor later what any of those things were or see if he could hack into the databases of the super secret alien experts SHIELD was now familar with.

"Here we are," Natasha said as they reached an exit door. She pushed it open and the three of them followed her outside.

The Doctor squinted at the two figures that were standing in the distance. One he recognized immediately as Agent Coulson, but the other...

"Thor!"

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thor had managed to travel safely to Midgard using the remnants of the Bifrost. Thankfully, the bridge had begun healing and although travel between the realms was not what it used to be, he was able reach Midgard without the aid of Dark Energy.

He landed in the clearing SHIELD had designated for him by the Nevada base. Thor raised his hammer to light up the sky before quickly quelling the rising tempest he had stirred. It was the signal he had told Agent Coulson would inform them of his return to their realm, and hopefully someone would be on watch to recieve his message.

Thor was soon relieved to see the figure of Coulson exiting the gray, slab-like structure, and Thor raised his hammer once more in greeting before walking to meet the other man halfway.

"Son of Coul, it is good to see you again so soon," Thor greeted.

"And you, Thor," Coulson said with the amused little smile he nearly always had when around the God of Thunder.

"I take it that you have been sucessful in your hunt?" Thor asked, the both of them ignoring the fact that Thor wouldn't be here if Heimdall hadn't already told him.

"Yeah, we managed to intercept him," Coulson said, putting his hands on his hips and looking down at the ground beneath his feet.

"And?" Thor prompted, his features grave as he steeled himself for the worst possible news. "Is this renegade friend or foe?"

"Friend," Coulson assured him. "At least from what we can tell. Everyone we've called has backed him up, and he's been on base for the past day without any incidents. At least as far as we can tell, he's friendly. We were just waiting for you so that you could make the final call."

Thor's face immediately brightened at the good news, and he clapped Coulson on the shoulder.

"This news has relieved me of a great burden," Thor confessed. "I admit that I did not think it wise to abandon you in a time of need, but..."

"You're the crown prince of Asgard," Coulson finished for him. "We understand that you have other obligations Thor. We're grateful that you make time for us despite that."

"Indeed," Thor said with a wide grin. "Now, let me see this newcomer. I am aware that not all renegades of Gallifrey are dangerous, but I did not want to tell you otherwise in case you needed to defend yourselves."

"We got lucky, I suppose," Coulson shrugged.

They were interrupted by a soft beeping noise, and Coulson pulled his phone from out of his inner suit pocket. Thor waited patiently as the Agent read his message.

"Natasha got my message from earlier and is bringing him here," Coulson told Thor.

"Ah! The Lady Natasha," Thor exclaimed with excitement. "Are any of our other comrades here?"

"Just Stark and Barton," Coulson told the Asgardian. "Rogers is sightseeing on the West Coast, and Banner decided it would be best for him to stay in New York."

"I see," Thor said, nodding in understandment. "Perhaps we will all be reunited again soon."

"And hopefully under better circumstances than the last time," Coulson added.

"Aye," Thor laughed.

"Here they come," Coulson said as he turned to look at the building.

Sure enough, when Thor lifted his head to look back at the building, he saw the Lady Natasha's distinctive hair emerge from the portal Coulson had exited not so long ago.

"Is that him?" Thor asked as he squinted at the tall, skinny man next to her.

"Yeah," Coulson said. "Calls himself the Doctor."

"Doctor!" Thor repeated, looking at Coulson with wide eyes before looking back at the grinning figure who was running toward them.

"Thor!"


	7. I've Heard Better News Than This

"Doctor!" Thor cried jubilantly and he threw his arms open wide to accept the enthusiastic hug he was about to receive from the skinny Time Lord.

The Doctor and the Demi-god embraced, and Coulson could only see the top of the Doctor's ecstatic face crushed into the crook of Thor's neck.

"My God, it's been ages, hasn't it?" the Doctor exclaimed when Thor finally let him have some breathing room. The two of them still had hands firmly grasped onto each other's shoulders however, as they looked each other up and down.

"Indeed it has!" Thor agreed with a smile. "And I see that you have changed your face! Just as you said you would!"

"Oh, yeah," the Doctor said, still grinning as he touched his face briefly before hugging Thor again.

"Come," Thor said, both to the Doctor and to everyone else. "You must tell me what I've missed while I was away."

"I feel like I should be saying the same to you!" the Doctor said in reply. Unfortunately the reunion wouldn't be as joyful as either would have liked.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Really? Loki did all that?" the Doctor said mournfully as he looked to Thor and then to the rest of the group. Both Natasha and Clint remained silent and their expressions might as well have been chiseled out of stone for all the Doctor could read them while Tony and Coulson simply looked uncomfortable. However, Tony was visibly more unsettled than Coulson despite the Agent's confession that he'd been impaled by the God of Mischief and had only just been released for active duty a few weeks ago.

"Blimey, but he was such a sweet kid," the Doctor reminisced, almost to himself. Thor was, of course, nodding sadly, the only one besides the Doctor who possessed any pleasant memories of his brother. All of the SHIELD employees kept their faces carefully blank and only Tony had an odd pinched look dominating his features.

"I mean, sure, he was prone to mischief, the odd trick or two, but this seems…out of character," the Doctor continued. He'd refrained from looking up the history of his two favorite demi-gods when he'd first met them, not wanting to see if the Earth's gruesome mythology would predict their future's successfully. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, but now, he couldn't help but wonder. Perhaps if he had known he might have been able to prevent all this. Maybe it didn't have to be Loki that engaged the Avengers in the battle of Manhattan. Maybe someone else could have taken his place and follow the path set by the fixed point in time….

The Doctor shook his head a little, looking down at his hands, feeling some of the calluses and burns that had inevitably appeared on his newest body. It would do him no good to think this way. He of all people knew the consequences of meddling with time.

"What was his sentence?" the Doctor asked, knowing that he wouldn't like the answer. He'd never approved of the harsh system of punishment the Asgardian's followed.

"He…" Thor began, but he looked away, as if he couldn't bring himself to even speak of it. The god of thunder cleared his throat before trying again. "For his crimes, he has been placed underground, bound in iron and his mouth sewn shut. The three realms he has offended, Joutenheim, Asgard, and Midgard, have deemed the punishment just."

It was clear from Thor's expression that he did not agree, and the Doctor knew himself well enough that his face probably had a similar expression painted onto his features.

"For how long?" the Doctor asked, his voice feeling rough against his throat, the pitch an octave lower than it was normally.

"…very long," Thor responded, not lifting his head to look the Time Lord in the eye.

The Doctor knew very well that this could mean anything from a few years, a few centuries, or until the destruction of Asgard.

"Right," the Doctor said, clearing his own throat afterward and desperately trying not to think of the bright, clever young man he had said goodbye to all those years ago. It would only make him do something he would regret.

"And what of you, Doctor?" Thor said, obviously trying to steer the conversation somewhere more pleasant. "What news from Gallifrey?"

"Um," the Doctor said, drawing out the 'm' for longer than was necessary. The last time he'd visited in Asgard was when he was in his fourth incarnation. Clearly, the two of them had a lot to catch up on, but he might as well start with the most obvious piece of news.

"About that," the Doctor began, he winced a little as he tried to string his words together in a way that would make some kind of sense. "The last Time War, um, it didn't go…so well."

"Did the Time Lords lose?" Thor asked, his brow furrowed in confusion. Thor knew well that this was highly unlikely since Asgard would have certainly noticed if the rest of the universe was being destroyed by genocidal Daleks.

"Well, yes... and no," the Doctor said, wincing again as he knew he wasn't helping anyone with his undescriptive answers. Even the three SHIELD agents and Stark were exchanging glances amongst themselves, trying to figure out what the Doctor meant.

"I do not understand," Thor told him, tone as blunt as ever and his impossibly bright eyes trying to search for an answer in the Doctor's own.

"Neither Gallifrey nor Skaro survived the final time war," the Doctor told them, trying to stay detached. "The war was time-locked, and both planets are…well, they're gone."

"Gone," Thor repeated looking as if he was having trouble swallowing this new information. "And the rest of the Time Lords? Surely there are others…"

"No," the Doctor said, still trying to stay calm, but he knew that this body was particularly humany-wumany. Everything he was feeling was probably written all over his face. "It's just me. The Last of the Time Lords."

"My friend," Thor said, his voice nearly thrumming with emotion. "You have my greatest sympathies. Truly, the whole of creation should be mourning such a loss."

The Doctor couldn't help but let loose a short, sharp bark of laughter.

"If only you were there at the end, Thor," the Doctor said. "If you'd seen…it wasn't like the other wars. Trust me, no one should mourn the Time Lords. In the end, we'd lost everything that had once made us great. What they'd become was..."

Thor raised a hand, stopping what the Doctor realized would have only become half-coherent ramblings. The Doctor's facial muscles twitched into something that could have resembled a smile, but he quickly ducked his head before he could embarrass himself further.

"So, yeah, I've been alone for a while, still travelling the universe, seeing the sights, helping out when I can…"

"Alone?" Thor asked, concern laced his question.

"Well, not always," the Doctor admitted. "There's always someone willing to travel with me for a bit, but lately I figured it would be better to, y'know, go it… alone."

The Doctor knew that he wasn't convincing anyone when he swallowed before saying the a-word, but hopefully they wouldn't call him on it. He was more than capable of making his own decisions, thank-you-very-much.

"I see," was all that Thor said, but the Doctor was relieved when he made no further comments.

"Well, no use dwelling on all this," the Doctor says with some false cheer. "What are you doing here on Earth?"

Thor indulged him and recounted his tale, beginning with his botched coronation, his foolish visit to Jotunheim, his exile, and the conflict with his brother that had been the beginning of his brother's madness.

"I can't help thinking that if I had known I might have been able to prevent this," Thor confessed, still dwelling on the loss of his brother.

"Ah, well, families are fickle things," the Doctor said. "My relationship with my own brother was never very good, but, well, he wasn't exactly a likeable person. Actually rather dull, to be honest."

Thor just hummed, obviously barely listening to what the Doctor was saying. The Doctor knew that he was only providing background noise to the Asgardian's meloncholy, but he couldn't think of anything else that might help.

"So, what happened between the time of his fall and his appearance on Earth?" the Doctor pushed. "He obviously wasn't alone, and he managed to make some interesting...friends."

"The Chitauri are friends to no one," Thor snorted. "They do what they will. I'm afraid they poisoned his mind while he was still... recovering from the revelations the All-father had imparted upon him before succumbing to the Odin-sleep."

The Doctor wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case. It sounded as if Loki had been a particularly fragile state of mind after his fall from the Bifrost, and he could imagine what meeting a race like the Chitauri would do to him. Not to mention Thanos...

"It seems likely," the Doctor admitted gravely.

"When he first arrived," Clint cut in suddenly, startling both Thor and the Doctor. "He'd been going on about making us free from...uh, freedom. Like he was going to take over for our own good. It all sounded kind of backwards and messed up to me."

"Yeah," the Doctor said. "That's a very Chitauri concept. They aren't very big on free will. Although I'm guessing Asgard didn't really take the possibility of brain-washing into account when he was put to trial."

Thor could only shrug helplessly, and the Doctor knew that Thor wouldn't have been in a position to argue with the All-father and three disgruntled worlds calling for Loki's blood. However, now all the Doctor could think about was whether to warn them about Thanos. He couldn't recall when or if the Titan invaded Earth. It was obviously one of the events in space and time he would really have to brush up on.

The Doctor was just about to mention something about him when Coulson's phone chirped. Suddenly, the Doctor and Thor realized they had all but ignored their companions, and, to the Doctor's embarrassment, that except for Clint's comment a little earlier, they'd had little to no input in the conversation. At least they hadn't been bored by their conversation. Stark in particular looked like the phone call had interrupted him from watching a particularly good television show.

"Coulson," the SHIELD agent said into his phone, and everyone leaned in slightly when the normally unflappable Agent Coulson frowned. "What? Right now? ...Is it under control? ...Alright, I'll let them know."

"What? What is it?" Stark asked impatiently.

"There was a situation in New York at the Oscorp building just last night. SHIELD has been monitoring the situation, but it seems that a genetically altered specialist in cross-species genetics went mad and nearly executed a successful biological attack on New York City."

"...what?" was the general response from everyone sitting at the table. Even Natasha and Clint who were usually used to hearing about crazy stuff like this by now at SHIELD.

"What happened then? Who took him out?" Clint asked, his urgency nearly concealed but not well enough to fool his present company.

"Apparently we've got someone new on the superhero scene," Coulson said, looking amused. "We'd been getting some reports about a new vigilante in New York City, but we were waiting for him to really show his colors. Now he has."

"Wait, is this that guy?" Stark said suddenly. "I've heard about him. He's called something stupid, I think. Arachno-man or whatever?"

"Just Spiderman," Coulson said. "From what we can tell he's the result from another experiment with cross-species genetics. His identity is still secret, but now that all of this is cleared up-"

He gestured at the flabbergasted Doctor and Thor.

"We can focus on this properly. We should have some potentials lined up by the end of the week."

"What? Are we recruiting?" Stark asked, looking both annoyed and excited at the same time.

"Maybe," Coulson admitted.

"Brilliant," the Doctor said suddenly with a bright grin stretched across his features. The rest of the table looked at him oddly, even Thor, at this interruption. "Absolutely brilliant."

Perhaps the Doctor would be sticking around for a little longer. He couldn't help but feel that this was somewhere he needed to be. After all, watching history unfold was one of his favorite ways to pass the time.


	8. To New York

"Well this is exciting, isn't it?" the Doctor commented peeking out the window of Stark's private airplane. "Of course, I'd be able to get us there in just a few seconds if we'd taken my TARDIS."

"Sorry, but I don't think SHIELD is ready to trust you with four Avengers and one of their best agents," Tony said with a smirk as he sipped scotch out of a finely-cut glass tumbler. He was sitting across from his new alien friend in a very plush and expensive armchair. "Even if you've got two super secret alien-expert organizations and a Norse god to back you up. Maybe next time though."

"At least I got my screwdriver back," the Doctor said absentmindedly as he took the aforementioned tool out of his coat pocket and twiddled with it a bit.

"Yeah, about that. Are you finally going to give me a demonstration?" Tony asked with more eagerness than he'd like to admit. "Now that all of the sticks in the mud are in their aesthetically inferior SHIELD jets."

"Thor isn't a stick in the mud," the Doctor said with a slight frown. "And Clint's a nice enough guy..."

"Well, Thor's a stick in the mud because he 'didn't wish to travel the skies confined in a metallic flying cylinder' or something" Tony paraphrased with a slight sneer on his face. "But, ultimately, not what I asked. So, can you?"

Tony widened his eyes and opened his mouth just enough to make his bottom lip look bigger than it actually was. It was his best 'puppy-dog' face and if this couldn't persuade the Doctor to give him a private presentation of his 'superior' technology, nothing would.

'Oh,' Tony thought to himself. 'That sounded kind of dirty.'

Luckily for Tony none of his thoughts disrupted his subtly-crafted begging face. Otherwise, the Doctor might not have given in at that moment. Instead he might have treated him more like a certain immortal ex-companion from the 51st century.

"I-" the Doctor sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright fine!"

Tony's pout melted away and he grinned into his drink.

"Okay then E.T." Tony quipped. "Give us a show."

The Doctor gave him a stern look before changing the setting on his screwdriver. He then pointed it at the ceiling of the plane and pressed the button. Stark was fascinated to hear a faint whirring noise and to see a gentle blue glow emit from the metal wand, but that fascination quickly fell away when he realized the disco ball and stripper pole were descending from the ceiling.

"Wait, what?" Tony said, twisting in his seat to catch a glimpse of the projector flickering to life. Thumping club music switched on just a few moments after that.

"I think that's my line," the Doctor said with a smile as he looked around, excitement making his movements especially jerky. "What kind of plane is this?"

"Uh, It's my kind of plane," Tony said a little defensively. "And, hello? Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist? This is exactly the kind of plane I should have. If I didn't then I wouldn't be spending my money correctly."

"If you say so," the Doctor said with a laugh. He clicked the sonic screwdriver on again, and everything went back to normal. "And there you go! Demonstration complete!"

"That's it?" Tony said incredulously. "Seriously? The only thing you did was flip the power switch on and off."

"I hate to tell you this, but that's all this does really," the Doctor said shaking the sonic screwdriver out in front of him. "Nothing exciting. It's gotten me out of a few jams before, but usually only by opening a door."

"Really?" Tony repeated, his voice climbing in pitch. "All this hype about how you're from this technologically advanced super race, and your best gadget opens doors and turns on switches? I feel cheated."

"Well," the Doctor huffed, crossing his arms across his chest. "It's not like I set out to impress anyone. Though of course..."

"Of course what?" Tony asked, jumping on the chance that the Doctor might have something else to show him. "Do you have something else in there? Like some awesome time manipulator or something? Can you freeze time? That's possible right? I mean if time travel is possible, it should totally be possible to freeze time."

"I- what?" the Doctor exclaimed, sitting up and staring adopting the incredulous expression Tony had been using only moments before. "No, no, no. I mean, I suppose technically it's possible, although not in the way you're probably thinking. Generally it would be unwise. And, no, I don't have anything else on me, but I have my TARDIS! Oh, she's the shining example of what Time Lord's are capable of."

"Again with the TARDIS?" Tony asked, raising an eyebrow. "What's with you and your spaceship? Just looked like a shabby old box to me. And what kind of name is the TARDIS anyway?"

"Hey! Don't knock the TARDIS!" the Doctor warned, pointing a finger at the human sitting across from him. "TARDIS standing for Time And Relative Dimension In Space! And it's probably the most advanced piece of technology to have ever been created in all of space and time!"

"Yeah?" Tony chuckled. "What's so special about it?"

"It's a multidimensional organic and telepathic entity! It'd be pretty hard to find something she isn't capable of!" the Doctor bragged and crossed his arms, conveniently forgetting the fact that his model, the Type 40, was more than a little outdated with several parts he constantly struggled to keep functional. He also didn't count the chameleon circuit which was completely out of commission. Although he usually told himself that the only reason why it was still broken was because he'd grown fond of it's Police Box setting.

"What does that even mean?" Tony asked. "Organic? So...what? The thing's alive?"

"She! She's alive, and of course she is," the Doctor said. "Every TARDIS is...or was, at least."

"Uh-huh," Tony grunted skeptically. "Well, I think that's just one of the things I'm going to need to see to believe."

"Oh don't worry!" the Doctor exclaimed, his arms still folded in front of his chest, his posture standoffish. "First thing I'll do when I get my TARDIS back is to show you how it works! And then- wait a minute..."

Tony couldn't help but release the obnoxious grin he'd been trying to suppress for a good few minutes or so. This guy was too easy. At least he seemed to be taking his revelation fairly well.

"Oh, that's- that's sneaky that is!" the Doctor said, pointing his finger accusingly at the genius engineer, a large smile once again plastered onto his face. "Well, I wasn't exactly planning on entertaining anyone new in the TARDIS, but I suppose it couldn't hurt to let you have a look. If you really wanted to."

"Oh, I do," Tony said, nodding gravely. "Oh hey! Wait until I introduce you to Bruce! You're going to love him! Expert on gamma radiation and thermonuclear physics and he..."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coulson was sitting quietly in the back of the plane both Agent Romanov and Agent Barton were piloting. Thor had already taken off for the Tower himself, and Stark had insisted that the Doctor ride with him in his private jet. Consequently, the three SHIELD agents and Thor were probably going to reach New York much sooner than the other two. Coulson doubted it mattered much to them since they would be traveling luxury.

Coulson suddenly felt his phone buzz, and quickly fished it out of his coat pocket.

"Coulson speaking," he said immediately.

"Agent Coulson of SHIELD?"

Coulson's brow furrowed when he heard a lilting accent on the other end of the phone. He couldn't quite place it, but it sounded familiar...

"Yes? Can I-"

"Look, I really don't have a lot of time," the woman spoke quickly, her voice hushed. "I'm just trying to give you a warning. He's coming..."

"I'm sorry, who's coming?" Coulson asked. As time dragged on he was appreciating this mysterious phone call less and less.

"His name is-"

The woman was cut off abruptly, but she seemed to be still alive if her muffled shouting was any indication. Coulson was startled again by a loud 'click' signaling that someone had ended the call. Coulson couldn't help but feel a terrible sense of foreboding after what he'd just heard. The number was unlisted and the call had been too short in length to trace, even if he'd had the proper equipment. Coulson could only sit uncomfortably for the rest of the ride, now knowing that something potentially dangerous could be on it's way.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nice building," the Doctor commented several hours later when they had all met up in front of the building. Even Thor had come down from his landing site on the Tower to greet them.

"Thank you," Stark said rather obnoxiously, eyeballing the other members of the team who had either made no mention of Stark's building or had simply insulted it. "It was designed for maximum space and energy efficiency."

"It definitely shows," the Doctor said, not bothering to look away from the building to notice Tony Stark's smug grin and the eye rolls of Agent Barton.

The Doctor looked up and down Lexington Avenue and could feel the excitement bubble up inside him once again. He was in the midst of history in the making and it felt fantastic! And soon enough he'd be meeting one of the most iconic figures of the age: Spider-man, otherwise known as Peter Parker. The Doctor had always felt a great deal of sympathy for the underdog superhero who had simply wanted to help make the world a better place.

'And now I'm going to meet him! Just as soon as Coulson meets...with...him...'

The Doctor calmed down as soon as he realized what this meant. Spider-man was one of the superheroes best known for his ability to keep his identity secret. After all, many newspapers, the Daily Bugle especially, had made it their life goals to smear his good name, and now SHIELD was going to hunt him down in the beginning of his career?

'Was this my fault or was this meant to happen?' the Doctor thought frantically, going over the events that had taken place since his first contact with SHIELD. 'Maybe SHIELD is supposed to know? Blimey, if they kept it a secret, no one would have been aware of it, would they?'

The Doctor thought about subtly hinting that leaving Spider-man alone would be a good idea, but after thinking about it a bit more, he decided to leave it alone. Whether or not he'd arrived during this time, SHIELD would have noticed Spider-man's activity in New York and investigated him anyway. Perhaps that's why Spider-man had been able to help people for as long as he had, because he had the back-up of SHIELD and the Avengers.

'I'll have to play it by ear,' the Doctor told himself as he followed the crowd of SHIELD agents and superheroes into the Tower and into an elevator that went straight to the top floors.

"Doctor!" Thor boomed despite the loud volume being unnecessary when the Doctor was standing right next to him in an enclosed space. "You must meet Jane Foster! She's a noble-hearted woman of advanced learning. I believe you would enjoy meeting her very much."

The Doctor looked up at his Asgardian friend and nearly burst into laughter when he saw a sort of barely restrained hopefulness radiating from the thunder god's face.

"I'd love to meet her, Thor," the Doctor assured him and he let out a small chuckle when relief flooded the blond's features.

"Aye, it will be a glorious meeting of the minds!" Thor agreed.

"Speaking of," Tony interrupted. "Bruce should be here too. They'll probably be in R&D lab 4, so we can kill two birds with one stone and hope over there now. Let me text them."

Tony flipped his phone out of his pocket with a easy wrist movement, his fingers practically flying over the surface of the screen.

"I'm going to head over to the state penitentiary once I oversee the delivery of the Doctor's ship," Coulson nodded toward the Time Lord.

The Doctor looked extremely pleased that his TARDIS was still nearby.

"What for?" Clint asked, looking curious. "Did the new candidate get arrested for vigilantism already?"

"With what we've seen from this guy and how the police has reacted to him, I wouldn't be surprised," Natasha added dryly, thinking back to all the information she'd been able to find on the newcomer.

"Actually, I'm going to see Dr. Connors, also known as The Lizard that attacked Oscorp," Coulson corrected, his voice as mild as ever. "He's our best lead to figure out the identity of Spider-man and what his intentions are. Our investigation begins with him."


	9. The Doctor Meets A Doctor

"Interesting," the Doctor said mostly to himself as he poked around Stark's lab. Of course, it was nothing compared to what the Time Lords had been doing in the height of the war, but the Doctor estimated that Stark was at least 10 years ahead of the game as far as Earth 2012 was concerned.

"Isn't it great?" Stark beamed as he did a short spin in the center of the room, his arms stretched out wide.

"Yes, yes," the Doctor said with an indulgent smile on his face. He crossed his arms and walked further into the room, looking this way and that. "You're very clever."

"No mocking," Stark tsked, but it was good-natured, the grin never leaving his face. It honestly seemed to delight the man to be surrounded by as many intelligent people he could find and show them his toys.

"Never," the Doctor denied playfully. He uncrossed his arms and started tapping on one of the glass screens hanging next to him. "How long do you think it will take Thor to retrieve his lady love?"

Stark made a face as he shrugged off his jacket and threw it on top of a spinning robotic arm. "Hopefully not too long. Although they sometimes get carried away when they haven't seen each other in a while, just to let you know."

The Doctor chuckled, "Yes, well, consider me warned. I'll try not to be too offended by open displays of affection."

"Don't know why Bruce couldn't be here..." Stark muttered to himself as he sulked and tinkered with one of the projects he'd left behind. "It's not like meditating in the park is more important right now..."

"Oh, I won't be going anywhere for a while," the Doctor said cheerfully as he studied the energy grid for the tower. "Brilliant! I love the work you've done with the arc reactor energy!"

Tony perked up and looked at the Doctor's station. His face soon lost it's pout and he quickly walked around the table to stand next to his newest science buddy.

"Isn't it great," Tony gushed. He tapped the screen a few times and a new grid popped up. "If these levels hold up, here's what I'm predicting for the next..."

The Doctor and Tony Stark talked amiably for a few minutes about the future of clean enery via Stark Industries and the Arc Reactor, but soon they were interrupted by the tell-tale swoosh of an opening door and a polite knocking on the threshold.

"Doctor! Tony!" Thor said enthusiastically as he entered, the hand of a lovely young scientist tucked neatly into his arm. "May I introduce the most lovely Lady Jane."

"Pleasure to meet you!" the Doctor smiled and held out his hand to the petite, young brunette who was blushing at Thor's introduction.

"It's nice to meet you too," she said with a warm smile as she took his hand and shook it firmly. "I'm Dr. Jane Foster."

"Oh? A doctor?" the Doctor smiled to himself a little at his private joke. "What of?"

The Doctor couldn't recall her name right off the bat, but he hoped that once she named her field he'd recall something about her. After all, anyone connected to Thor must have made a significant impact in history somewhere.

"Astrophysics," she told him. "Mostly I study Einstein-Rosen bridges."

She smiled again, but this time her teeth caught her bottom lip as she tried to stop herself from grinning like a fool.

"Oh..." the Doctor said, looking at her and then at Thor with sudden understanding. "So that's how you met then? Must have been a shock for you."

Jane punched out a laugh as she thought back to her first meeting with Thor. "You could say that."

"And..." the Doctor pointed between the two of them. "Have you been together long?"

That got the two of them talking about themselves just a little bit. It seemed that they hadn't had many chances to meet each other after Thor's initial fall to Earth and the shattering of the Bifrost. However, it turned out that Thor's assistance with tracking down the Doctor had been a good excuse for them to spend time together.

'Well, I can't say that I'm happy about being ambushed by SHIELD,' the Doctor thought to himself with a gentle smile as he watched the couple dance around each other verbally as they told their story. 'But at least I was able to help out here a bit...if inadvertently.'

About ten minutes later, after every one (including Tony) had sat down for their conversation, Agent Coulson walked into the room, greeting Jane.

"Dr. Foster, nice to see you again," Coulson said, his smile mild.

Jane smiled in return, but it was noticeably pinched. She'd never quite been able to forgive Coulson's treatment of her and her research when they'd first met. However, they'd forged a tentative friendship when Jane and Selvig had started working with SHIELD after New Mexico.

"Doctor," Coulson addressed the Time Lord sitting on a lab stool. "We delivered your police box on the roof."

The words were like magic for as soon as they fell out of Agent Coulson's mouth, the Doctor visibly lit up. He sat up straighter and the grin he had on nearly split his face in half.

"Really?" his voice breathless with excitement. "I can..."

"No one's stopping you," Coulson assured him. "Now, I've got somewhere to be."

"You don't want to have a look?" the Doctor goaded him a little. "After all the time your lads have spent trying to get in."

Coulson made a face, barely noticeable except for those that were used to his usual lack of expression.

"Maybe when I get back," he said, and he swiftly turned on his heel, heading back out the door.

"So we're going to go see the infamous TARDIS now?" Tony asked, his chin cradled in the palm of his hand, watching in amusement as the Doctor popped up from his seat.

"Well, yes," the Doctor said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"TARDIS?" Jane asked, looking from the Doctor to Tony to Thor, confusion plainly visible on her face. "What's that?"

"Time and Relative Dimension in Space," the Doctor rattled off easily as he clapped his hands together. "Now, are we going to go straight up or do you want to wait for your friend? ?"

"You snooze, you lose," Tony said, not unkindly, but eager to see what all the hype was about. "We can always invite Snuggy bear up to the party later."

"Lead the way then Mr. Stark," the Doctor gestured toward the door. "To the roof!"

Thor, Tony, and Jane crowded into the elevator and then followed Tony up the emergency exit stairs to the roof. Nobody had been up there since Stark had the Tesseract machinery removed. However, there was no other way for SHIELD to drop off something as large as the TARDIS on such short notice. The Doctor was perhaps the only one who wasn't uneasy by being there, and it showed. Thor and Tony were having their own flashbacks while Jane had been well informed by both Thor and Selvig afterwards.

Both Barton and Romanov were waiting for the group next to the bright blue police call box. Although they looked equally discomforted by the location, they also had the immediate distraction of the anachronistic object. Soon enough it caught the attention of the others. The Doctor had never noticed anything but his ship.

All of them watched in with amusement as the Doctor pranced up to his ship and just stood outside of it for a moment, simply staring until he held out a hand to touch the side of the box.

"Do you want is to leave and give you a moment?" Tony quipped, raising a brow at the alien's behavior. "You've been gushing about this thing since I first met you, time to see what all the fuss is about."

"Aye," Thor said. "Even when I was a child this ship has been your pride and joy. Yet I've never seen the inside."

"Well then," the Doctor said, his tender moment put on hold from the comments in the cheap seats. He turned and gave them all full smirk. "I do love this part."

The Doctor rummaged through his coat pocket and pulled out a key on a simple piece of string. Sticking the key into the lock, he turned back to them one more time, gave them a silly grin, and opened up the door.

Once the Doctor got the right door open, he looked at the left door and opened that two. They were a large group after all, and it would be awkward to have them all shuffle in one by one.

"Welcome to the TARDIS!"

The Doctor practically skipped inside, hopped up to the main-control board and spun in a circle, his arms stretched out above his head as he did so. He was facing the doors when he stopped, and he leaned back against the control to witness his favorite part. The reaction.

Agent's Romanov and Barton were first, and while Natasha's reaction was carefully schooled (much to the Doctor's disappointment), the Doctor had spent enough time around her the past few days to recognize that this particular blank look was an expression she put on when she was so confused she couldn't process the information. Funny enough, it was an expression the Doctor saw the most from her.

Barton's reaction was appropriately satisfying. He looked at the wide, open space of the main control room, darted his head back out to look at the outside before stepping completely inside. Jane's reaction was similar, but Thor simply looked inside with a smile of wonder on his face. Of course, to an Asgardian, dimensional pockets weren't as exciting as it was to 21st century earthlings.

Tony's expression was the one that pleased him the most. His naturally expressive eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets as he looked around the inside of the TARDIS, probably trying to process what he was seeing.

"So?" the Doctor prompted as he crossed his arms and casually leaned back against his console a bit more.

"It's..." Jane was the first to respond. "Bigger. On the inside."

The Doctor's face lit up once more with absolute delight.

"It is? Isn't it?" he looked around at his TARDIS adoringly.

"So," Natasha said as she walked up the steps to the main console. "It's sort of like your pockets then?"

"Yes," the Doctor said. "Well, no. Yes and no. My pockets have an extra dimension or two to create more space, and I can fit quite a bit in there. The TARDIS? It's the size of an entire planet. Completely on a different scale."

"A planet?" Barton spoke up from next to one of the coral columns. "Seriously?"

"Of course I'm serious," the Doctor chastised. "Just through there-"

The Doctor pointed at a pair of metal doors.

"Even I don't know of every room in the TARDIS. I've gotten lost more than once. Even recently and I've been living with her for the past 700 years."

"Her?"

It was Jane this time. She was the only one who hadn't been subject to the Doctor waxing poetic about his ship.

"And, I'm sorry, did you say 700 years?" she asked incredulously.

"You're late on that point, baby cakes," Tony said as he walked around the main room slowly. The look in his eyes was akin to hunger as he stared at the TARDIS engine. "The Doctor here is, how old did you say again? 900?"

"907," the Doctor confirmed.

Jane choked, but the rest of the group just smiled. Thor chuckled as he rested his weight against one of the pillars and stared at the wonder of Time Lord technology.

"If you think that's weird," Barton continued. "You should hear one of his stories. It's hard to believe him sometimes."

"Oi," the Doctor said, sitting up from his semi-reclining position to stare accusingly at the agent. "I've always told the truth about my travels. Well, I might have embellished on the exciting parts, but it was always the truth!"

"Relax," Barton said, his hands moving in the universal "calm yourself" gesture. "I believe you. It's hard not to, looking at all.. this."

He looked up and twirled his finger.

"Yes, well," the Doctor coughed, a little embarrassed. "Anyway..."

The Doctor snapped his fingers and the doors of the TARDIS shut. Tony and Jane jumped and looked over at the close doors a little nervously. Thor continued to look as at home as he ever was in the Doctor's presence.

"Now as I say to most of my companions," the Doctor said with a cheeky grin as he started up the TARDIS, darting this way and that, pushing buttons and pulling levers. "All of time and space..."

He stopped what he was doing for a moment, studying them all with a brow raised and a smirk on his face.

"Where do you want to go?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! Took a writing course this semester so I had to focus on writing long-ass original stories. *shudders* Wasn't all fun and games I can tell you that. Worst part was being forced to read some truly terrible stuff. Not pretty.
> 
> Hopefully I can get back on track a bit. I can't promise that there will be more updates because classes are just going to start up again later this month, but I'll try my best. And then, after this upcoming semester, I'll be graduating and who knows what'll happen after that?
> 
> Anyway, don't be afraid of telling me what you think! Reviews are always welcome ;D


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